The disclosure herein relates generally to computer systems and more particularly to an optical drive device for a portable notebook computer.
Manufacturers of computer systems often have to provide several drives to satisfy the needs of their customers. Typically, the drives include a sheet metal housing which is slide mounted into a computer base by means of a rail system. Each chassis has unique size differences based on the components that they are built around. Electrically, the boards and performance of the devices are very similar, if not identical, and the defining differences in chassis size are generated by the number of drives.
The problem is how to get multiple drives into the same chassis size. Successful implementation of this idea would significantly reduce the amount of resources required to develop two completely unique chassis and focus efforts on one chassis that would satisfy the needs of consumers.
One solution which has been used is to provide add-on trays below the chassis to extend drive capacity. These have been used for notebook computers and also for compact disk (CD) players.
Therefore, what is needed is a drive that is mounted in a portable computer that is easy to access and is space efficient.
One embodiment, accordingly, provides an optical drive mounted in a portable computer as an integrated component of the liquid crystal display (LCD) housing. To this end, a portable computer comprises a base member and a lid member attached to the base member so as to be movable between a closed position and an open position. A display is mounted in the lid member. An optical drive is mounted in the lid member and positioned to be accessible without moving the lid member to the open position.
A principal advantage of this embodiment is that the optical drive is easy to access, provides a weight reduction and has minimal space requirements. Also, an optical drive mounted in the display housing can supplement other drives mounted in the base member without requiring a conventional mounting in the base member.